1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wrenches and more particularly to remotely operated ratchet wrenches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the application of wrenches to machinery, the mechanic sometimes encounters difficulty in removing or tightening nuts or bolts in a confined area which does not provide sufficient space to maneuver an ordinary wrench handle. In instances in which nuts or bolts are so placed that a wrench handle has room to swing through a small angle, the ordinary ratchet wrench may be effective. Although ratchet wrenches are therefore sometimes practical even in confined areas, there are still many applications where a mechanic cannot effectively swing a wrench handle through the required angle even with such wrenches. Various attempts have been made to cope with this problem including design of squeeze action wrenches such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,726,563, 3,616,714 and 3,557,644. These employ a squeezable handle to drive a ratchet, permitting the mechanic to turn a bolt or nut without rotating the handle. In the wrench disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,726,563, a long rigid handle is connected one end to a ratchet head, the other end to a squeezable trigger some distance from a nut or bolt. The operator thus has somewhat greater versatility in driving a ratchet in different environments. Such devices are limited by the rigid connection in the same plane as the ratchet. While in some instances screwdriver or lug wrenches applied perpendicularly to a nut or bolt may be operable where the above discussed wrenches are not, often no prior art wrenches can work in confined areas efficiently.